Monthly Archives: May 2023

Memorial Day: remembering the sacrifice, celebrating the summer

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This coming holiday weekend for most of us is the first bookend of the summer season. It’s a time for picnics and barbeques, gathering with family and friends. Depending on where you live, it may be warm enough for a first beach trip and swimming pools open for the season.

But we can’t forget that Memorial Day as a holiday honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. The history of this holiday may surprise you. Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, originating in the years following the Civil War. In 1950, Congress passed a resolution requesting that the president issue a proclamation calling on Americans to observe Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace. It became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many people observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials and participating in local parades.

As a child growing up in Minneapolis my family had the annual tradition of visiting graves on Memorial Day. We went to Fort Snelling National Cemetery to visit my father’s grave and then to smaller nearby cemeteries to visit my grandmother’s grave and a great uncle’s grave. Anyone who has been to a national cemetery with rows and rows of uniform white grave markers is moved by the experience. We are reminded of so many who have given unselfish service to our country.

My husband and I had the opportunity last summer to visit the American Cemetery at Normandy in France. That was a very moving experience. Visiting Omaha Beach just prior to that and learning more about the landings on D-Day, then seeing the thousands of graves at Normandy was a sobering reminder of what fighting for our freedom has meant.

I hope that as you enjoy the long holiday weekend you will hold in your heart the memories of all those whose lives are celebrated on Memorial Day.

Inspiring the next generation of healthcare heroes

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It’s Health Technology Management Week, a time to celebrate and thank all the biomed technicians and clinical engineers who make up the critically important HTM teams in our hospitals. Not being involved in AAMI as I was over the past decade, I thought I didn’t have anything new to say this year. And then I saw a social media post that inspired this week’s topic. What better way to celebrate and acknowledge the work of our HTM teams than to highlight the need for more HTM professionals in the future.

Like many healthcare professions, HTM faces staffing shortages now and into the future. Educating young people about health careers and building a pipeline is one aspect of addressing those shortages.

“Ollie the Biomed” by Chace Torres is a new children’s book that describes what a biomed technician does. Like other children’s books about different jobs and careers, it makes the life of a biomed technician exciting and attractive. And it is written from the firsthand experience of a proud biomed tech and dad who is well aware of the staffing shortage in this field. Torres is the lead technician for Texas-based medical equipment manufacturer SPBS Inc.

AAMI featured the book in this May 2, 2023 article: “Meet Ollie, the Biomed ‘Device Doctor’ Who’s Teaching Children About Fixing Problematic Medical Products”. An excerpt from the article:

Torres, who also shines a light on the HTM profession via an ongoing podcast, says it’s more important than ever that young people are exposed to a “profession struggling to build awareness, [because] the majority of the workforce is set to retire within the next decade,” he wrote in an overview of his book.

The book is “about inspiring those who are younger and letting them know that there are other jobs out there besides those found in a typical children’s book—the standard professions that all kids see, whether it’s a police officer, firefighter, or doctor,” Torres said. “Many people have reached out to me who have purchased the book or have bought it for somebody else, and they will say, ‘My son, or my daughter, or my grandchild had no idea what I did as a biomed, but after reading the book, they understand and loved it.’”

The book description on Amazon provides more background:

This children’s book is a depiction of the profession known as Biomedical Equipment Technician, AKA “Medical Device Doctor.” Ollie the Biomed experiences a work day repairing, calibrating, and solving real world problems found within the everyday job of a Biomed. It illustrates the complex but rewarding career filled with so many devices used in healthcare today to treat patients. Biomeds are directly responsible for inspecting, repairing, calibrating, and managing all aspects of any medical device found in hospitals today. I wrote this book for my son to learn exactly what his dad does and why I love what I do each and every day. I hope to inspire kids across the world to seek out more information and become Biomeds because it is truly rewarding and fun.

Torres is an advocate for his profession in other ways. Since 2021 he has hosted “Bearded Biomed”, a podcast that drops twice a month. Some of his recent topics: Women in HTM, the 2022 HTM Salary Survey, and Dealing with Biomed Burnout. Continue reading →

Amplifying the voice of nurses

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May 6-12 is National Nurses Week. Nursing has been the most trusted profession for the past 20 years according to a Gallup Poll. That’s no surprise when you think about the nurses you have interacted with as a patient or as a colleague.

I’ve written a post about nurses almost every year since I started this blog. Do I have anything truly new to say this year? Yes, in that I want to highlight how the past three years has taken a toll on all our clinicians, in particular nurses. The public health emergency is expiring. Health care providers are adapting their policies as they continue to deliver care. We have entered a new phase for healthcare organizations, staff, patients, and families.

Staffing challenges are at the top of the list of concerns for many health executives – staff shortages and clinician burnout. There are no easy solutions. The toll of the past few years on our nurses was highlighted in a May 2nd NPR article by Jaclyn Diaz – “Nearly a third of nurses nationwide say they are likely to leave the profession“. The article starts with some sobering findings from the 2023 Survey of Registered Nurses conducted by AMN Healthcare. The survey examined the impact of COVID-19 on the career plans, job satisfaction, and mental health and wellness of more than 18,000 RNs. Key findings:

  • Close to 1/3 of nurses nationwide say they are likely to leave the profession for another career due to the pandemic. This level is up 7 points since 2021.
  • 89% of RNs said the nursing shortage is worse than five years ago, 80% expect that to get much worse in another five years.
  • Younger generations of nurses are also less satisfied with their jobs compared to their older counterparts.
  • 80% of nurses experience high levels of stress at work, an increase of 16 points from 2021.
  • 77% of nurses reported feeling emotionally drained, up from 62% in 2021.

Of all the blog posts I’ve written about nurses, this one from five years ago has the strongest message – “Celebrate nurses, but more importantly listen to them”.  This is true now more than ever. From the bedside to the boardroom we need to listen, amplify, and prioritize the voice of nurses.

IT leaders won’t solve the staffing challenges. But we have a role to play. The systems and solutions we provide and support as health IT leaders and vendors must help nurses do their job more easily and efficiently, not make it harder. We need to reduce the burden on nurses and ensure they are integrally involved in decision making, prioritization, and design processes.

From workaholic to fitness enthusiast: living a healthier lifestyle

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When I turned 50, I joined a gym – it was a birthday present to myself. Many years of working long hours, commuting, and raising two daughters kept me from regular workouts. I figured at 50 it was well past time. I knew that no one at work was going to come into my office at 6pm and tell me to go home and take care of myself. I had to own it. I have belonged to a gym almost continuously since then though I’ve lived at 5 different addresses in that time.

I had another major milestone birthday last week. And I can honestly say I have never been as physically active as I am now. Go figure. Guess that’s what happens when you work less!

At a minimum, I walk a 1.3 mile loop late afternoon almost every day with our two dogs. I go to 4 classes a week at the YMCA if I register before there are wait lists. I play pickleball every day I can when the weather is good. And I’ve signed up with a women’s golf group to play 9 holes once a week when my schedule allows – I know this will be more fun and social than exercise.

If you are a golfer, you know that’s a humbling experience! From 2000 to 2012, I had periods where I golfed 9 holes once a week but never took lessons. In the past 10 years, I’ve golfed only a few times at charity outings. We moved to a planned community in late 2021 and our townhouse is on one of the two golf courses. We see a lovely but challenging par 3 hole from our deck – we see golfers tee off hoping to hit it over the junk and then we see them hunt for their ball around the green. This summer I decided it was time to get back into golf myself. Continue reading →